

^■*fe.jsl^' 





^Pg^pF '^M 




Bfeifeg--y^^^B^ 


". -sly^pl 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 

Shelf. .C±QA 



UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 




(hattanooqa' 



( 






A FEW FACTS 

WORTH KNOWING ABOUT A CITY 

THAT IS GROWING FASTER 

THAN ANY OTHER IN 

THIS COUNTRY. 



Compiled by 
CARPENTER, SHERWOOD, QUIMBY & TOWER CO. 
Chattanooga, Tenn. 



Copyright 1890, by 
Carpenter, Sherwood, Quimby & Tower Co. 



Press of 
N. Y. Engraving and Printing Co., 
New York. 



ABRAM S. HEWITT'S PROPHECY. 



Hoi^. Abram S. Hewitt, ex-Mayor of New' 
York City, said : — 

" It is customary with a great many cities to 
have a map made especially for advertising pur- 
poses, in which their jDlace is represented as being 
in the centre of the universe, or at least in the 
centre of the desirable j^arts of it. I l<inow of no 
city which would be so nearly iustified in issuino- 
such a map as Chattanooga would be, situated as 
it is at the strategic jooints where the commercial, 
industrial and agricultural interests of the South 
are centred. 

" I know but little of the South except what I 
have read in books and in speeches, but from 
what I have seen I cannot conceive of any com- 
bination of natural advantages which could by 
any possibility form a better basis for magnifi- 
cent growth and prosperity. Situated as it is on 
a splendid river, which here forms a natural 



gateway between tlie regions of the Central 
South and of the Gulf States, opening up to you, 

are the various treas- 
ures with which the 
South is so richly and 
generously endowed 
by the beneficent 
hand of nature. 
Add to these resour- 
ces the immense 
graineries to the west 
of you, and no words 
can foretell the pos- 
sibilities of the future. The growth of New 
York from a town of 21,000 people one hun- 
dred years ago to a city of a million and a 
half has been remarkable, Imt I predict, after 
careful study and deliberation of the conditions 
surrounding it, that there are places now in 
the South which, one hundred years hence, 
will surpass the growth of New York in the 
century that is past, and Chattanooga is more 
likely to be the point than any city I know of." 




ANDREW CARNEGIE'S PROPHECY. 



" Who could have prophesied, gentlemen, that 
In a few years from the time the New South 
started in earnest as an Iron and Steel manu- 
facturer, that the market of Boston should be 
controlled by iron shipped from the Southern 
States ; but such is the case to-day ; and, gentle- 
men, if the South has her turn and repays the 
North for its invasion of the South, let us con- 
gratulate ourselves and our Southern friends 
that the iron with which they invade us is in an 
infinitely more agreeable shape than that Avith 
which we invaded their territory. I delight to 
dwell upon the progress of the New South in 
industrial inirsuits. It is marvelous. Listen a 
moment. In 1880 there were but 220 National 
Banks in all the South; there are to-day 472, 
with 76 millions of dollars of capital. Since 1880 
nearly 21,000 miles of railroad have been added. 
In 1880 the South made only 390,000 tons of pig 
iron; last year she gave us 1,132,000 tons, and 
this year her product will be more than 1,600,000 



6 



tons, one-fiftli of the entire i^roduct of tlie United 
States. Only six millions and forty-eiglit thou- 
sand tons of coal 
were mined by her 
in 1880. Last year 
her output of these 
black diamonds ex- 
ceeded 18,0( )(),()(){) of 
tons. In cotton man- 
ufacture the record is 
no less startling. 
From 667,000 spin- 
dles in 1880 we have 
2,030,000 eight years later. The new manu- 
facturing and industrial South advances like a 
giant with his seve league boots on." 




CHAUNCEY M. DEPEW 

AT THE 

Yale Alumni Dinner at Delmonico's, Nevv 
York City, Friday, April 18tii, 1890. 



The net result of my visit to the South to my 
mind is just this : that the South is the bonanza 
of the future. We have developed all the great 
and sudden opportunities for wealth, or most of 
them, in our Northwestern States and on the 
Pacific Slope. But here is a vast country, with 
the best climate in the world, with conditions of 
health which are absolutely unpai'alelled ; with 
vast forests untouched ; with enormous veins of 
coal and iron, which yet have not known an}'- 
thing beyond their original conditions ; with soil 
that, under proper cultivation, for little capital 
can supxDort a tremendous jDopulation ; with con- 
ditions in the atmosphere for comfortable living 
summer and winter which exist nowhere else in 
the country ; and that is to be the attraction for 



8 



the young men who go out from the farms to 
seek settlement, and not by immigration from 

abroad — for I do 
thinlv they will go 
that way — but by the 
internal immigration 
from our own coun- 
try it is to become in 
time as prosj^erous as 
any other section of 
the country, and as 
prosperous by a 
purely American development." 




INTRODUCTION. 



About forty years ago the bleak prairies of 
Kansas and Nebraska began to be populated, and 
the hardy pioneers, in their efforts to wrest a 
livelihood from nnwilling mother earth, suffered 
great hardships. The climate was severe, the 
insects destroyed their crops, the winds blew 
down the rude houses ; with little or no shelter 
or fuel, hardship and peril were the lot of the 
early settlers. On the mai[)s of that time a large 
extent of this territory was marked as a desert, 
upon which no j^lant could grow or breathing 
thing could live. In the midst of this barren 
waste is now the beautiful and i^rosperous city of 
Lincoln; while the labor of these pioneers has 
made such cities as Omaha, Denver and Kansas 
City necessary. The growth of these cities has 
been rai^id, and has extended through forty 
years, fonning a pleasing picture of American 
fortitude and enterprise. 



10 

There is another scene which is not so thrilling, 
because no heroism was here to be disj^layed, no 
hardships to be encountered ; naught but the 
social and business customs of a chivalric, poetic, 
dreaming people to be overcome. Upon the 
South Nature had poured with lavish hand the 
choicest of her blessings. Here beautiful mount- 
ain streams bounded over the rocks, and in merry 
gladness sang on their way to the more placid 
rivers, which flowed through fertile valleys to the 
sea. It was the land of sunshine and of flowers. 
No bleak wdnds forced the pioneer to exertion 
through sense of self -protection ; no biting frosts 
blighted the harvests ; no ravenous insects 
wrested the food from hungry human kind. 
High above the valleys towered the mountains — 
not the barren rocks of the Western ranges, but 
forest-covered summits where the poplar, the 
walnut, the oak and the pine proudly lifted their 
heads to greet the rising sun. Here Dame 
Nature kept her store-house of precious metals^ 
and gold, silver, copper, lead, iron, coal, marble, 
and whatever else man might need awaited the. 
miner's j)ick. 

Here for years a dreamy, poetic people lived in 



11 

easy comfort, unniiiidi'iil of the wealth that was 
theirs. The war came ; social conditions were 
changed, and men awakened to the advantages 
which Nature had given them. Still, the census 
of 1880 showed that the time was not yet ripe for 
the South to take on itself a new order of life, 
and several of the Southern States had actually 
decreased in jwiDulation during the decade. A 
far different tale does the census of 1890 tell. 
The growth of the South during the past ten 
years has been i3henomenal. We of the South 
know that this has been accomplished wdthin the 
last five vears, but are content to base the beo-in- 
ning at the year 1880. " Old things have passed 
away, and all things have become new." The 
prairie States of Ohio, Indiana and Illinois have 
increased but little during the past ten years, for 
southward "the star of empire takes its way," 
as it did westward forty years ago. 

The pivotal city of the South is Chattanooga, 
which stands surrounded hy the richest coal and 
mineral deposits in tlie loorld. It is situated 
where it must control a territory larger and 
richer than that tributary to any city of the 
West. From a geographic, economic, social, 



12 

sanitary, commercial, liistorical, industrial or 
agricultural point of view, it is pre-eminently 
the leading city of the j)resent South, and i^roj)- 
erly represents the brightest hopes of the future. 

The p)ractical mind turns to figures as the 
rejDresentatives of facts ; and in presenting the 
condition of Denver, Kansas City and Omaha, 
the magic cities of the West, and their growth 
from 1880 to 1890, after the section which made 
them what they are had been rapidly develoj)ing 
for thirty years, it is certainly a conservative 
proposition that Chattanooga, whose contributing 
section of country has virtually had but five 
years' growth, will in the next ten years show as 
great an increase as the cities of the West have 
done during the past ten years. 

Chattanooga in 1890 has as large and as rapidly 
increasing commercial territory ; it has an agri- 
cultural territory which, while not as large in 
extent, is as fertile as theirs. It has mineral 
deposits beyond all comparison with any in the 
West. It has more industrial establishments 
employing more capital than Omaha has to-day, 
and double that of any of the three cities above 
named in 1880. It is, therefore, safe to say that, 



13 

with so greatly superior basis of growth, Chatta- 
nooga in 1900 will be as large as either of them is 
now, in 1890. 

In this connection it may be stated that the 
fortunes made in real estate in those cities can 
be made in Chattanooga now. Values of real 
estate depend upon the density of population. 

Chattanooga has an area of 4f square miles, 
and has 29,000 people. Omaha has an area of 
over 35 square miles, and in 1880 had 30,000 
peoi^le. Denver has over 33 square miles, and in 
1880 had 35,000 people. The entire territory 
available for the growth of Chattanooga from the 
Georgia State line to the river, and from Cameron 
Hill to Missionary Ridge, is only 19 square miles. 
Hence, ten years from now, it is very safe to pre- 
dict, every available foot of ground will be occu- 
pied, and in ten more years Chattanooga will be a 
very densely-built city. There is not room in the 
basin which it occupies for it to be otherwise. 
It has not nearly as much available territory to 
grow in as Omaha or Denver now covers ; and 
there is every j^ossible indication, amounting 
to an absolute certainty, according to all rules as 
to the basis of growth, that in 1900 Chattanooga 
will be larger than those cities are now. 



14 

In the accompanying tables are given all the 
facts bearing npon this, and they show conclu- 
sively that every foot of ground within the terri- 
tory named will be within the city in ten years ; 
and in ten years more real estate values will 
again double, because, having occupied all the 
available territory, the density of population 
will force this result. 



OM 



AH/^ 



POFULATIOH 



I890 



1880 
1890 



30.518 
134.742 



35 SQ.R. MILES. 




CHATTANOOGA. 



30. 



POPULATION 



2g 



100 



4 'A SQ'R. miles. 




OMAHA -CHATTANOOGA. 



In the comparison between Omaha and Chatt- 
anooga the figures of 1880 for the former city can 
be only partially used, as they are not all attain- 
able. The growth of a city depends on its com- 
mercial and industrial enterprises, and on its 
available capital. In the number of manufact- 
uring enterprises Chattanooga is now ahead of 
Omaha, and need not go back to 1880 for a basis 
of comparison. 

Omaha, 1880. Chattanooga, 1890. 

Population* 30,518 29,100 

School Attendance 3,716 4,526 

Number of Railroads 3 9 

Buildings Erectedf $1,000,000. . . $1,765,000 

Tot. Bus. (estimated) . .$45,000,000. . .$60,000,000 

Bank Deposits $3,373,000. . . $4,465,000 

Assessments $7,512,683. . .$21,952,506 

Manufactures, Number 154. . . 231 

Capital. . .$1,835,800. . .$14,980,000 
' ' Employees . . . . 1 , 688 . . . 9,869 

" Wages $726,918. . . $4,200,000 

The following lists for 1890 are prepared from 
the reports of the Chambers of Commerce for the 
two cities. 

* Population of Omaha, 1890, 145,000. 

■j Buildings erected in Omaha 1890, $1,000,000. We do not go 
back to 1S80, but take last year for comparison of Omaha and 
Chattanooga. 



J6 
OMAHA. 



Number 
Class. of Firms 

Barb Wire 1 . 

Brick 15 . 

Carriages 3 . 

Cornice 3 . 

Crackers 2 . 

Distillers 2 . 

Extracts 

Founders and Machinists 

Linseed Oil 

Mattresses 

Overalls 

Shot and Lead Pipe 1 . 

Soda Water 3 . 

Syrup Reiiners 1 . 

Smelting AV orlvs 1 . 

Vinegar Works 2 . 

Canning and Preserving. 1 . 

Baskets 2. 

Brooms 4 . 

Soaps 3. 

Cigars 21 . 

Breweries 4 . 

Candies 4 . 

Flour Mills 3. 

Bag Factory 1 . 

Total Manufactories ... 90 . 



Number of Capital 
Employees. Invested. 

..... $150,000 

220,000 

40,000 

45,000 

210,000 

860,000 

14,000 

140,000 

420,500 

10,000 

27,000 

90,000 

40,000 

25,000 

2,500,000 

36,000 

10,000 

..... 70, ()()() 

10,000 

70,000 

89,000 

450,000 

40,000 

140,000 

100,000 

. ..$5,312,500 



17 
CHATTANOOGA. 

Number 
Class. of Firms. 

Saw Mills 7.. 

Pianino- Mills 9.. 

Fnrnaces 2. . 

Iron and Steel Works. . . 8. . 

Foundries 12. . 

Wagons 8. . 

Ice 5. . 

Furniture 5 . . 

Brick 9 . . 

Leather 4. . 

Milling 4 . . 

Mattresses & Spring Beds 5 . . 

Novelty AVorks 10.. 

Boilers 8 . . 

Agricultural and AA^ood, 

MisceFs 7. . 

Stoves and Sheet Iron . . 4. . 

Sewer Pipe 2 . . 

Patent Medicines 8 . . 

Soap 1 . . 

Cigars 8 . . 

Brewery 2 . . 

Saw AVorks 2 . . 

Printing 15. . 

Alining and Quarrying. .18. . 

Railroad Shops 

Blacksmiths and AA'heel- 

wrights 82 . . 

Miscellaneous 52 . . 

(Including Gas, Water and Electric Li 

Stone AVorks 8 

(Including Steam Marble Works.) 

Total Alanufactories . . .281 

The excess of capital is due to the large establishments whose 
business is not confined to Chattanooga, while the number of 
employees is given for Chattanooga alone. 



Capital Number of 


Invested. Em 


ployees. 


St>825.00() . 


. 805 


075, OOO . 


. 050 


825,000 . 


. 250 


. 0,275,000 . 


.1,550 


502,000 . 


. 474 


85,000 . 


. 70 


420,000 . 


. 185 


400,000 . 


. 875 


175,000 . 


. 290 


. 1,091,000 . 


. 400 


508,000 . 


. 80 


80,000 . 


. 85 


150,000 . 


. 175 


53,000 . 


. 75 


050,000 . 


. 500 


110,000 . 


. 225 


280,000 . 


. 275 


110,000 . 


50 


45,000 . 


. 25 


15,000 . 


25 


150,000 . 


35 


25,000 . 


15 


200,000 . 


. 250 


005,000 . 


. 000 




. 800 


180,000 . 


. 100 


. 1,250,000 . 


.1,800 


ights.) 




125,000 . 


. 250 


.$14,980,000 . 


.9,809 



18 

BANKING CAPITAL. 

Omaha, 1890. 

The combined capital of all the banks, includ- 
ing the National, is estimated at four million 
dollars ; and, including surplus and undivided 
profits, at over five millions, not counting 
deposits. 

The detailed reports are not fully available. 



19 

BANKING CAPITAL. 

Chattanooga, 1890. 

First National $650,000 

Third National 354,000 

Fourth National 222,000 

Chattanooga National 356,000 

City Savings 232,000 

Citizens' Bank and Trust Company . . . 210,000 

Chattanooga Savings 65,000 

Bank and Trust Company 55,500 

Soutliern Bank and Trust Company. . . 50,000 

F. R. Pemberton & Company 100,000 

People's Bank 200,000 

Penny Savings 50,000 

South Chattanooga Savings 50,000 

Bank of Chattanooga 100,000 

Continental 200,000 

$2,884,500 



20 

The increase in the deposits for the six months 
from January 1st was $1,365,000, or nearly fifty 
per cent. The following figures of increase are 
from the books of the Chattanooga Savings Bank, 
and will hold good with the other banks : January 
1st (Increased) $15,802 ; February 1st, $27,715 ; 
March 1st, $34,547 ; April 1st, 38,361 ; May 1st, 
$47,736 ; June 1st, $82,066 ; July 1st, $64,275 ; 
August 1st, $68,895; Sept. 1st, $91,441. These 
figures are the increase only, and show the pros- 
perous condition of business and the growth of 
the city better than anything else could. These 
figures are of Savings dejiosits alone, no business 
deposits being received by this bank, which is 
j)urely a savings institution. 

Real Estate transfers, (1885) $4,426,148. 

" " " (1889) $5,515,425 

Local Transn. Lines, (1890) 97^ Miles 

The value of property in Omaha in 1880 was 
about the same as in Chattanooga in 1890 ; that 
is, from five to fifty dollars a front foot for resid- 
ence property, and from one hundred to one thou- 
sand dollars per front foot for lousiness property. 



21 

In Omaha tliis price lias increased from lifty to 
five hundred per cent, depending upon locality ; 
and it will do the same witliin the next ten years 
in Chattanooga. Pork and beef packing form 
the principal industry of Omaha. But this cannot 
compare with the iron and steel interests of Chat- 
tanooga. The growth of Omaha has largely been 
the result of its jobbing trade, which now reaches 
the sum of one hundred million dollars annually. 
But ten years ago it was not heavier than the 
jobbing trade of Chattanooga is now. 



22 

DENVER— CHATTANOOGA. 

Chattanooga does not suffer by a comparison 
with Denver, notwithstanding the rajoidity with 
which the latter city lias grown — increasing its 
population from 35,629 in 1880 to 125,000 in 1890. 

Denver, iSSo. Chattanooga, iSgo. 

Mf trs., Number .... 259 231 

Capital $2,201,852 $14,980,000 

Employees. . 2,984 9,869 

Wages $1,514,488 $4,200,000 

Assessments $16,194,090 $21,952,506 

Business Firms 875 975 

Bank Capital $51,646,457 $2,884,500 

Buildings erected... $1,100,000 1,765,000 

Business $65,000,000 60,000,000 

In 1890 Denver employed 9,353 hands in manu- 
factures, with a capital of $6,282,589. 

As to commercial territory, the comparison 
between these two cities is all in favor of Chatta- 
nooga, controlling as it does, the rich cotton and 
mineral districts of Northern Georgia and Ala- 
bama, the magnificent territory of East Ten- 
nessee, the grazing and agricultural regions of 



r 



DENVER 



POPU 



390 



I88C 
I89CI 



35. 
106. 



29 
f>70. 



33 SQR MILES. 



CHATTANOOGA. 



18 30 



POPULATION 
2S.I00 



4- 'A SQ'R. MILES. 



Chatt^amooqa- 

TENN. 

a\ap showing taat portiom availablc 
tor city builoihcr without - ; . 

OOINO INTO THE STATt Or GiDRCIA. 
' - - OR ACROSS THE : ^ 
TtNNESStt RIVER. 

(\.tiS THAN 10 SQ.,-.ILCS.; 




>JJiM H^c to 



23 

the Sequatchie Valley, and tlie Cumberland 
Plateau — altogether a territory with a popuhition 
of not less than a million and a half of people, 
embracing nearly one-half of the State of Ten- 
nessee, besides large i)ortions of Mississippi, 
Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina, Virginia and 
Kentucky. If Denver could grow from 35,000 to 
125,000 peoj^le in ten years, and then have no 
more manufacturing and no more banking caj^ital 
than Chattanooga, then this city, with a better 
agricultural country and commercial territory to 
support it, ought to have more tlian 125,000 
people within the next ten years. 



24 



KANSAS CITY— CHATTANOOGA. 

Kansas City is tlie wonder of the West. In 
1880 it was so mncli larger than Chattanooga is 
now that it is hard to institute a comjDarison ; 
but all the figures attainable show conclusively 
that Chattanooga has a better opportunity for 
growth than Kansas City had in 1880. 

Kansas City, iSSo. Chattanooga. i8go, 

Population 55,785 29, 100 

Assessments $10,577,260 $21,952,506 

Mf rs., Number 224 231 

Capital $2,147,305 $14,980,000 

Employees . . 2,548 9,869 

Wages $1,430,713 $4,200,000 

Total business $85,000,000 $60,000,000 



\ 



w^^ 



















KAI 


^sa; 


i CI 


TY 










POPU 


-ATI ON 


1880- 1 
1890-1; 


)2.977 
\2.I01 




























CHATTANOOGA, 



6 30. 



29.100 



4 %. SQR- MILES. 



32 ^ SQ MILES. 






Chattamooqa- 

Tenn. 




25 

OLENWOOD. 

If, as has been said, the elegance of the homes 
determines the refinement of the people, then 
Chattanooga is one of the most refined cities in 
the United States. Upon every side are costly 
residences built in the highest style of the arch- 
itectural art. The most attractive residence por- 
tion of the city is Glen wood. Situated at the 
foot of Missionary Ridge on beautiful rolling 
ground, nature has done everything to make the 
spot attractive. It was a park, and the services 
of an accomplished landscape artist were secured 
in laying it off. An ideal place for a home, high 
free from dust, easy of access, yet away from the 
noise and bustle of the business streets, in full 
view of the grand x^anorama presented by Look- 
out Mountain, Raccoon Mountain, the Palisades, 
Cameron Hill, Waldens Ridge, the winding 
Tennessee, and the entire city of Chattanooga it- 
self, it is indeed a charming place. It is no 
wonder that i^alatial residence are already pro- 
posed in this beautiful park, now for the first 
time placed upon the market. 



A SUMMARY. 



It does not require a tongue gifted with the 
spirit of prophecy to foretell the future of Chat- 
tanooga. It is yet upon the threshold of develop- 
ment, but its growth has challenged the 
wonder and admiration of the entire country. 
Its present condition and past success have been 
briefly presented, and this alone would justify a 
brilliant prediction for the future, but there are 
other and weighty reasons for expecting the 
growth to be even more rapid in the years to 
come than in those gone by. 

The city of Omaha claims an actual valuation 
of $150,000,000 in property, while Kansas city 
claims $250,000,000. These cities were built by 
Eastern capital, a steady stream of wealth flow- 
ing from the East to these magic cities of the 
West until having grown more rapidly than the 
countr^/ which supports them, they have now be- 
come settled and values fixed, affording little or 
no opportunity for rapid money making. The 



27 

attention of Eiistern ca jjitalists has therefore been 
diverted from the West, and they are now look- 
ing to the South for opportunities for investment. 
Until two years ago there was none of this capital 
in the Chattanooga District, but within the past 
two years it has commenced to come, as instanced 
by the Chattanooga Land, Coal, Iron and Rail- 
way Co., with $6,000,000, of Eastern capital, 
East Chattanooga with $2,500,000, Kensington 
with §1,000,000, Fort Payne with $2,500,000, 
Harriman with $1,500,000, Cardiff, Jasper and 
other places $500,000, or about $13,000,000 with- 
in two years. The results of this enormous 
amount of money have not even begun to be real- 
ized for the reason that tlie properties are not yet 
developed, and it will take another year before 
the beneficial effects are very noticeable. The 
figures given are those of the capitalization of 
the Companies, and the actual cash will probably 
be about seven millions of dollars. It can al- 
most be asserted that the whole of the cities of 
Denver, Omaha and Kansas City are due to 
Eastern capital, but if one-fourth is attributed 
to that source we have $112,500,000, three-fourths 
of which has gone there within the past ten years. 



28 

It is reasonable to believe tliat with this capital 
diverted to the South an equal amount will be 
invested here. There is accumulated in the 
United States at present over $270,000 every 
hour night and day, except Sunday, and this 
enormous sum of money is seeking investment 
all the time. A large part of it has gone West 
in the past. It has to find some other locality, 
and with the inducements offered in the South a 
large proportion of it will come here. 

The growth of Chattanooga, and the fact that 
it has only commenced to grow can be seen by a 
tew significant figures. Two years ago there 
were three flouring mills with a total capacity of 
300 barrels a day. There are now three mills with 
a capacity of 900 barrels and another mill build- 
ing with a capacity of 600 barrels. In wholesale 
trade, the grocery and liquor lines were the only 
ones having exclusive wholesale houses three 
years ago. There are now eight lines of trade 
with exclusively wholesale houses, and the job- 
bing business has been more than trebled. In 
banking, three years ago there were three banks 
with a total capital of $1,000,000. There are 
now fifteen with three times that much capital. 



29 

In mannfactiiring, steel-making in the South 
was not dreamed of a few years ago. Now the 
Southern Iron Co. is manufacturing steel at 
Chattanooga by the basic process, with $0,000,- 
000 capital. The effect of this wonderful change 
can be seen by consulting the Railway statistics, 
which show that a few years ago there was not 
a single north and south railroad that was pay- 
ing satisfactory dividends. Now more miles of 
railroad are being built north and south than 
east and west, and the lines in operation are pay- 
ing better. Traffic has changed from west to 
east to south to north, and this is more notice- 
able every year. 

An exceedingly favorable fact is that the 
growth is not confined to the city alone, but is 
general throughout the territory which it con- 
trols. 

In manufacturing enterprises and bankins: 
cai^ital Chattanooga is far ahead of the three 
cities of the AYest in 1880, and holds its own with 
them even now. It is growing more rapidly than 
they did then, and it is safe to predict even a 
greater growth in the future. 

The jobbing trad© is a sure indication of the 



30 

territory controlled by a city, and therefore a 
valuable index to its future. It is at present the 
weak point of Chattanooga, and yet it is taking 
great strides that will soon make it the strong 
point of the city's growth and prosperity, as it is 
now of Kansas City, Omaha and Denver. 

Ten years ago there was but one exclusively 
wholesale house in Chattanooga ; five years ago 
there were but three employing a capital of 
$200,000. To-day there are twenty-two employ- 
ing a capital of $1,500,000. In addition to these 
are about forty concerns which do a considerable 
jobbing trade in connection with a retail business. 
In these commercial lines alone are considered, 
and not manufacturing institutions. There are- 
six wholesale grocery houses, three liquor houses, 
three grocers specialties, two produce, two dry 
goods, two leather, two hats, two boots and shoes, 
one drugs and a large wholesale hardware busi- 
ness is done, but the concerns also have retail 
departments, and are not counted. The same is 
true of clothing and saddlery goods, and furni- 
ture, and one of the dry goods houses is just 
starting. Within the past twelve months there 
has been $335,000 additional capital put into the 



31 

jobbing business of Chattanooga, according to the 
reports of R, G. Dim & Co. Every jobbing house 
in the city, of whatever line, reports that they 
are doing all tlie business that they can handle 
with their x>i"t^sent capital, and could easily 
double their business if their capital was in- 
creased. There is now !^1,50(),00() invested in the 
jobbing trade, and an annual business is reported 
of S6, 000, 000. There is an increase -of about forty 
per cent, in 1890 over the corresponding months 
of 1889, which shows an increase of twenty-live 
per cent, over 1888. This showing for a city 
which was not considered a jobbing point until 
two or tb^ee years ago is a revelation, and indi- 
cates that in the future the commercial interests 
of the city will comjDare favorably with those of 
Kansas City, Denver and Omaha. The territory 
of Chattanooga is practically boundless. Stoves, 
furniture and plows from here are sold through- 
out the United States, and even in Mexico, while 
in the staple lines it has an extensive territory 
from which to draw its trade. 

There is another important matter which will 
cause the city to grow. It has the best school 
system that is possible to obtain, it is so healthy 



that physicians send their patients here as a 
health resort, the beauty of its scenery and the 
soft and genial climate attracts thousands of 
visitors who seek health and x)leasure. It is 
therefore a most desirable place to live. The 
class of people who have come is the very best, 
there being none of the rough element that usu- 
ally seeks a new country. Wages average the 
same as in the North, while the cost of living is 
less. Work is plentyful, and the condition of 
labor is shown by the fact that strikes are almost 
unknown, the statistics showing that while the 
number of persons employed in the South is a 
little more than one to three as compared with 
the rest of the country, the number of strikes is 
but one to twenty-nine. This fact must attract 
labor and capital alike. No other section com- 
bine such advantages of profit, pleasure, comfort 
and health, and its growth under every possible 
advantage will surely equal that of the cities of 
Omaha, Denver and Kansas City under the dis- 
advantages to which they have always been and 
always will be subjected. 

Within the next twelve months there will be 
three new railroads entering Chattanooga. The 



33 

oil fields of the Cumberland Plateau which have 
been successfully operated for twenty years will 
be fully developed, several new wells sunk, and 
the field connected by pipe line with Chattanooga. 
The copper mines of Polk County will be opened 
up on a large scale, and copper wire mills estab- 
lished at Chattanooga, new marble quarries and 
fire brick works four miles from the city will be 
started, and what is more important than all the 
Tennessee River will be opened uj) by means of 
the Muscle Shoals canal, and pig iron will be ship- 
ped by water to Pittsburg and coal to St. Louis. 
All of these new elements of growth will be add- 
ed within the next year, and insure a much more 
rapid increase in wealth and population than has 
ever been known before. 



SOUTHERN STEEL MAKING. 



The plant of the Southern Iron Company (Capi- 
tal $6,000,000) for making steel at Chattanooga 
is now nearly completed. The cost will be less 
than in the North, but owing to tlie fact that 
only experimental runs have been made the fig- 
ures as to cost cannot be given. 

Mr. A. M. Shook, General Manager of the 
Company, and one of the recognized leaders in 
the iron business of the South, makes the follow- 
ing statement for publication : 

"There are four practical methods known 
whereby to make steel. These are : the Bessemer 
process, the basic Bessemer, the Acid Oi^en Hearth 
and the basic open hearth. Our Southern mater- 
ials are not adapted to the Bessemer or the Acid 
Open Hearth because our ores have too much 
phosphorous to make acid steel. With the Basic 
Open Hearth the percentage of phosphorous is 



35 

not material. You must have low sulphur and 
low silica. 

The result of my investigation in Wales and 
England satisfies me that we can, by the proper 
mixtures make pig iron in the South that will 
make open hearth steel that is adapted for all 
commercial purposes, and for structural work 
generally. It will be w^ell adapted to rails, but 
will be of a better quality than is required for 
rails, and it will pirobably go into the finer pro- 
ducts. 

We ^^■ill construct two open hearth furnaces at 
Chattanooga, making in the aggregate seventy 
or eighty tons of steel a day. These will be in 
connection with the steel rail mill there which 
the Company owns. We have ores that are 
practically Bessemer, which we expect to convert 
into Bessemer Steel to make steel rails, and if so, 
to use both the Bessemer and Basic processes. 
The success of the experiment is assured."* 

Capt. H. S. Chamberlain, President of the 
Roane Iron Co. and Citico Furnace Co. says : 

"Mr. Shook and myself went abroad to investi- 
gate the operations of the Basic process of steel 

(Note) Since the above was written the Southern Iron Co. 
be^an operations Tuesday, Sept. i6 1S90 and are now working 
xiight and day. 



36 

making, as used in the steel mills with a view to 
employing the same in the Southern Iron Go's. 
steel mill here. We were received by the iron 
masters of the old country most cordially and 
treated most courteously. We were given every 
facility for thoroughly investigating the process. 
We visited all the leading mills of England and a. 
number in Germany, and were gratified to see 
the absolute success attending the use of the 
Basic process. We visited the great works of 
Sir John Brown, and went through the mines of 
the famous Cleveland iron stone district, and 
everywhere we went we were offered amx)le opp- 
ortunity to investigate the processes employed. 

' ' After making a thorough investigation we 
were satisfied that our Southern iron could be 
just as easily and successfully employed in steel 
making as that of the old country by the basic 
process. 

"The Basic process is the old Siemens-Martin 
open hearth furnace, the same as used in the acid 
process, but the furnace is lined with basic mat- 
erial, and all the additions are basic. In this 
process the phosphorous, the objectionable ingre- 
dient in our Southern iron is oxydized and goes. 



37 

off in the slag, thus leaving the iron pure and 
ready for carbonizing into steel ; and iron even 
high in phosphorous can be used to nearly as 
good advantage as the best Bessemer irons of the 
North, and at much less original cost. The pro- 
duct is of the finest nature, and much better ad- 
apted to the liner grades of steel than is the 
Bessemer. 

" For use in these open hearth Basic furnaces 
any amount of phosphorous, if low in silicon, can 
be used. Of course the less amount contained of 
each of these ingredients the better. In these 
respects the Southern Iron Company's charcoal 
product more than meets the requirements, as 
the iron has less than one-half of one per cent, 
phosphorous, and less than one per cent, of sili- 
con. With suitable care in manipulation the 
irons from any of the coke furnaces in the South 
can be used to advantage, and will, most likely, 
' be so used as the demand for the steel product 
increases. 

"The metal made by this open hearth Basic 
process is superior to any other for wire rods, 
tin plate and ship plate and most steel shapes, 
to the Bessemer, 



38 

"I was interested by the fact that the pig iron 
used by these furnaces in England is white, the 
grey brands carrying too much silicon. I believe 
that Southern ores in general are perfectly 
adapted to making this product, the only draw- 
back to the iron now made at our coke furnaces 
being the silicon, which I am confident can be 
eliminated in the blast furnace at no additional 
cost of j)roduction. 

" We have all of the basic in and around Chat- 
tanooga in the greatest abundance, and that part 
of the 23rocess will be reduced to the minimum 
cost ; Chattanooga is most fortunately situated 
in this respect ; as will be demonstrated when 
the mill begins active operation. 

•'The mill will make steel rods, steel plates, 
and small steel shapes, and it is possible that we 
will make nails, and if the duty is advanced on 
tin plate we will make that for the reason that 
Basic steel is admirably adapted to making tin 
plate. 

"Chattanooga will of course be the centre of 
operations as here is the most important plant of 
the Company's property : in other words Chat- 
tanooga will be the virtual name of the Southern 



39 

Iron Co., for here the output of its furnacesand 
mines will be utilized, and all its business will be 
transacted from Chattanooga. All its manufact- 
ured products will be known as Chattanooga 
manufactures, and the most important improve- 
ments and additions to their property will be 
here. Other furnaces will be built at various 
points on the Comjxany's proj^erty, and this, of 
course, will necessitate the enlargement of the 
main plant here ; so that Chattanooga must be 
the beneficiary of all the operations of the 
Company." 



L. K. QUIMBY, Prest. GEO. R. SHERWOOD, Secy 

E. P. CARPENTER, P. Prest. L. H. TOWER, Treasurer. 



CARPENTER, SHERWOOD, QIJIBY & TOWER CO., 

Make Investments and handle business 
for Non-Residents. 

Buy and Sell Lands, Lots, Etc. 

ON JOINT ACCOUNT AND COMMISSION, 

Build Mouses and Sell them on terms that 

enables almost any one to be their 

o^!vn house o^vner. 

The most beautiful spot in or around 
Chattanooga is 

aivKNWOOD 

and the best place to build a good home. 
Remember, nothing but first class build- 
ings will be built, hence values are sure to 
advance right along. 



^ 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



,^^t. 







014 611 249 3 



'•d^'' 






1^^ 

*■-*«- T 



- -■■■ '^^.^fl 



,--■,."■ l|PJ-««?^fei - 



^i^^ 



3? . 



.*^'-^- 






